


Revelations

by kaiz



Category: Queen of Swords
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-02
Updated: 2002-02-02
Packaged: 2017-10-09 18:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaiz/pseuds/kaiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tessa nearly gets caught.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revelations

Alerted by the clatter of hoof beats in the courtyard, Tessa Alvarado raced through the solarium, past the disapproving portrait of her father, lacing her bodice as she went. Peeking through a crack between the curtain and the window, she watched the riders dismount while she frantically pinned her lace shawl with her mother's heirloom sliver brooch. Her hair was loose and she hastily dragged a brush through it, struggling to tame the wind-snarled disarray. She finally gave up and tucked it under the shawl.

"Senorita Alvarado! You have guests!" Marta called in warning. And Tessa quickly took her seat on the settee and snatched up a glass of lemonade and an imported Spanish fan.

All too quickly, her unwelcome guests arrived.

"Why Colonel Montoya. Captain Grisholm," Tessa said, languidly fanning herself. "How nice to see you both. Won't you sit and have a cool drink? It's so very *hot* today, wouldn't you agree?"

"Thank you, Senorita," Montoya said, as officious as always. "But I fear this is no social call. We have come, instead, to search your premises."

"Search? My home?" Tessa feigned wide-eyed innocence. "Pray tell why?"

Montoya's lap dog, Grisholm finally spoke up. "Following a failed jail break, witness reported seeing a woman, dressed in black riding a black horse, enter your estates a short while ago. We believe it to be the Queen of Swords."

"The Queen?" she gasped, artfully pressing a hand to her bosom. "That, that *foul* renegade? How dreadful."

"Indeed, Senorita. And so, we must search. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it may cause you or your household."

Tessa graciously waved away the apology. "You are welcome to search, Colonel, but I can't imagine what you hope to find. I have seen no one all morning, and surely one of my servants would have noticed this, this *person* skulking about the premises."

"Ah, but we have a clue, Senorita," Montoya said, at his most irritating.

"Clue?"

"Yes," Grisholm concurred. "A single lock of hair. Left by the bandit at the scene of the crime. We need only to find the dark-haired woman missing a strand or two and we shall have our Queen."

"Oh." Tessa gulped inwardly. "I see."

_Finis._

**Author's Note:**

> Fic challenge topic: Use the following: a queen, a portrait, something silver, a lock of hair, an insult.


End file.
